The sun wasn’t the only thing beaming on Saturday. Residents of all ages, clutching corndogs and cups of fresh-squeezed lemonade, radiated pure bliss despite temperatures reaching into the 80s.

Driving in demolition derbies since he was a teenager, Kyle Cook has a different perspective on the sport. “It is destruction, but there is strategy,” said Cook, a 45-year-old Eaton businessman. Cook ...